Silk Laminated Business Cards

What does "Number of Sets" mean?

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• Each person that you are ordering business cards for will require an additional set of cards. For example - If you have 3 people that need business cards, type the number 3 into the "Number of Sets" field, select your desired options, upload files to our server OR send to files@printspal.com, review order and checkout. 

What type of files can I send to PrintsPal?

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• We accept PDF, EPS, Al, JPEG, TIFF, and PSD files.

What is UV Coating?

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• A very slick, glossy coating applied to the printed paper surface and dried on a press with ultraviolet light. The slick surface of UV coating makes it near waterproof, eye catching and very popular.

What is Spot UV Coating?

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• As the name suggests, a Spot UV coating or varnish is applied to chosen spots (areas), of a printed piece. This has the affect of highlighting and drawing attention to the part of the design, but it also provides the additional visual stimulus of having varied textures on a single printed surface. This adds a lot of interest, and can identify the printing as a premium piece in the perception of a reader.

  We apply a Spot UV gloss varnish on top of matte finish printing. This achieves maximum contrast between the highly reflective shiny UV coating and the light-absorbing matte laminate, and can for instance, create a striking first impression on business cards, postcards and club flyers.

What is AQ (Aqueous) coating?

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• AQ coating is a thin subtle coating applied to print, strictly for protection and to allow the printing of the backside immediately. In most cases, unless you know what to look for, there is only a subtle difference in sheen to the AQ coated side of a job. Aqueous is similar to watered-down version of the white glue like you may have used in grade school. Aqueous is offered standard on all of our coated stocks, except for 14pt jobs (like business cards) which we also offer UV coating.

What are your file specifications?

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• For the best results, we recommend PDF's but we can accept JPEG, EPS, Al, PSD or TIFF files as well.

  Please create all files with a 1/8" bleed (0.125" on all sides). As an example, a 3.5 x 2 business card file should be submitted at 3.625 x 2.125. 

  Please keep all safe text at least 1/8 from the trim line. 

  Files must be CMYK, not RGB.

  PDF's, EPS, and AI files: Please convert all fonts and text too outlines and flatten all transparencies.

  JPEG, PSD, TIFF: Please flatten all files. You may save your files at 400 DPI (300 DPI is the minimum).

What are your turnaround times?

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• Jobs can be turned around as fast as 48 hours! Most standard items are printed and shipped in 2-4 business days. Silk Laminated products and custom orders can take longer. Specific product turnaround times are posted on each product page.

What is bleed?

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• Printers cannot print right to the edge of a paper sheet. To create that effect, the printer must use a sheet which is larger than the document size. Then the printer prints beyond the edge of the document size (by 1/8), then cuts the paper down to the document size.

  It is the designer's responsibility to set the bleed correctly. For example, when setting up a 5.5 x 4.25 (quarter page) job, you should START your job at 5.625 x 4.375 (templates for many popular sizes are available in our templates section). By extending the image past the cut mark, the cutter blade cuts through Ink, rather than trying to cut exactly on a line, which is next to impossible. As a rule of thumb, try to keep important information at least 1/8 from the cut lines, as this ensures nothing important will be cut.

What is CMYK?

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• CMYK is also called 4-color Process. Colors in CMYK images are composed of varying amounts of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. This is the way a printing press prints color, so it is vital that your image be in this color mode. For 1-color Process it needs to be grayscale or bitmap (which only use Black).

Am I required to use one of your file templates to submit a file?

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• No. We recommend you use our templates to assist you with bleed and safe areas, however, if you are comfortable meeting our requirements, you are not required to use our templates.

How to Use Our Templates:

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• 1. Download a template for your appropriate product, size, folding option, orientation and file format.

  2. Build your artwork in a separate layer (which will be incorporated with your template), using our template as a guide for bleed, safe area, and approximate fold(s).

  3. Delete (or turn off) template and export .pdf with appropriate settings, and UPLOAD.

How long does it take to receive my order?

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• Usually, this equals:

  Turnaround time + Shipping method selected.

  Please keep in mind that turnaround times are NOT guaranteed. We do our best to hit the projected timelines, but printing is a multi-step, multi-variable, process. This is not a Xerox machine, and many, many, things must go seamlessly for us to deliver as quickly as we do. We appreciate your understanding. Turnaround time does NOT include shipping, or mailing services.

What type of shipping do you offer?

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• 99.99% of our shipments are done via UPS. In the case of very large orders, special arrangements may be made for freight trucking. This includes large quantities or heavy weights. Print jobs that exceed 500 pounds are usually shipped using the freight trucking method.

My image is less then 300 dpi, can it still be printed?

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• Your image can still be printed at less than 300dpi, however the print quality will be sacrificed significantly. We print all jobs using 500 Line Screen (Silk Products are printed at 200 line screen), which means you can utilize up too 400dpi for any print job. We recommend at least 300dpi to obtain the best print quality.

What do you recommend for rich black?

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• Rich black is an ink mixture of solid black, 100% K, with additional CMY ink values. This results in a darker tone than black ink alone. If you print black alone as 100% K, the resulting black may not be as dark as you might like.

  We recommend using
  C 60 M 40 Y 40 K 100
  This will give you a deep, dark, rich black.

What is the difference between 'Gloss Book' and 'Gloss Cover'?

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• Most commonly, you will hear terms like "100lb Gloss Book", "80lb Gloss Text", or "100lb Gloss Cover."

  
  

  Gloss Book and Gloss text are essentially the same paper, it just depends on who you talk to. This type of paper stock is typically used for brochures, flyers, posters, etc... which, generally speaking, has the same thickness of a regular piece of paper. 

  
  

  Gloss Cover is a thicker paper stock that verges on the thickness of cardstock. Gloss Cover, as the name would suggest, can be used for the outside cover of pamphlets and booklets, and is many times used for postcards, business cards, brochures and more. 

What is Matte Finish?

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• Matte finish is not shinny like gloss or UV, but still keeps much of the ink from being absorbed by the paper and produces an excellent image. Matte finish also has a nice 'organic' feel to it.